ERVI.NUS^ZIRBES. 
;.  'JOHN'S  SEMINARY. 


IS  THE 
CHURCH 
WOMANls 
ENEMY? 


MARRIAGE  AND  THE 
"NEWER  FREEDOM" 
FOR  WOMEN 


BY  THE  REV.  JOHN  A.  O'BRIEN  PH.D. 

CHAPLAIN  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  STUDENTS,  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


IS  THE  CHURCH 
WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 


MARRIAGE  AND  THE 
"NEWER  FREEDOM" 
FOR  WOMEN 


Number  88 
Fourth  Edition  20,000 


OUR  SUNDAY  VISITOR 
Printers  and  Publishers 
Huntington,  Indiana 


Nihil  Obstat: 

REV.  T.  E.  DILLON 

Censor  Librorum 


IMPRIMATUR: 

■^JOHN  FRANCIS  NOLL,  D.  D., 

Bishop  of  Fort  Wayne. 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S 
ENEMY? 


"The  Catholic  Church  is  reaction- 
ary. She  stands  in  the  way  of  the 
complete  emancipation  of  woman- 
hood. She  opposes  companionate 
marriage,  trial  marriage  and  divorce. 
She  insists  upon  the  old  doctrine  of 
the  sanctity  of  conjugal  vows  and  the 
indissolubility  of  the  marriage  tie. 
Upon  her  rests  so  heavily  the  dead 
hand  of  the  past  as  to  crush  out  all 
receptivity  to  the  stirrings  of  modern 
thought. 

"Before  the  eyes  of  womanhood 
there  looms  up  a  new  world  of  free- 
dom, while  the  Church  still  chains 
them  to  the  conventions  of  an  outmod- 
ed past.  Her  views  on  marriage  are 
old-fashioned  and  out  of  step  with  the 
progressive  temper  of  today.  Her 
stand  against  divorce  under  all  cir- 
cumstances bars  the  way  to  happiness 
for  multitudes  who  discover  only  af- 
ter marriage  that  they  are  mismated. 
In  short,  the  Church  is  not  the  friend 


4     IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

but  the  enemy  of  womanhood  in  this 
modern  day." 

These  were  the  words  that  fell  from 
the  lips  of  an  advocate  of  the  so-called 
"newer  freedom"  for  women.  Dis- 
gruntled over  the  unmodifiable  stand 
of  the  Church  against  divorce  and 
remarriage,  she  regarded  it  as  placing 
a  barrier  to  her  finding  happiness  in 
another  marriage.  As  she  blurted 
out  her  phillipic  to  her  pastor,  a  pain- 
ed expression  came  over  his  venera- 
ble countenance.  He  had  not  forgot- 
ten all  the  history  he  had  read.  As 
the  bitter  words,  "The  Church  is  not 
the  friend  but  the  enemy  of  woman- 
hood," echoed  in  his  ears,  a  far-away 
look  came  into  his  eyes.  The  walls 
of  the  rectory  seemed  to  fade  away. 
In  their  place  there  came  a  series  of 
other  and  different  scenes. 


Clement  VII  Defends  Catherine 

It  is  a  room  in  Hampton  Courts, 
the  summer  home  of  Henry  VIII, 
along  the  Thames  in  England  on  a 
late  October  day  in  1527.   Among  the 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  I 


maids-in-waiting  to  the  Queen,  Cath- 
erine of  Aragon,  Henry  spies  a  new 
face.  It  is  the  pretty  face  of  Anne 
Boleyn.  Those  thick  sensuous  lips, 
those  lustful  eyes  that  follow  her,  tell 
of  the  secret  design  already  forming 
in  his  brain.  He  has  already  had  his 
intrigue  with  her  older  sister  Mary. 
But  Anne  refuses  his  advances  unless 
she  be  the  acknowledged  Queen,  seat- 
ed beside  him  on  the  royal  throne.  To 
satisfy  that  lustful  passion,  Henry 
casts  aside  his  faithful  wife,  Cather- 
ine, and  pounds  on  the  doors  of  the 
Papacy  with  the  imperious  demand: 
"Give  me  a  divorce  from  Catherine 
that  I  may  marry  Anne  Boleyn.  If 
you  dare  refuse,  I  will  not  only  leave 
the  Church,  but  I'll  pull  all  England 
with  me." 

Clement  VII  knew  full  well  that  it 
was  no  idle  threat.  On  the  one  side 
stood  arrayed  the  King,  the  lords  and 
nobles,  the  house  of  Parliament,  the 
sycophantic  Wolsey  and  Cromwell,  in 
fact,  all  the  powers  of  imperial  Eng- 
land. On  the  other  side  stood,  desert- 
ed and  alone,  the  weeping  figure  of 


6     IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

Catherine.  But  the  low  sobbing  of 
Catherine  was  heard  above  the  thun- 
ders of  the  king.  True  to  his  divine 
office,  the  Vicar  of  Christ  stood  by 
the  defenseless  Catherine  and  to  the 
insolent  challenge  of  the  king  flung 
the  answer :  "Not  for  you,  nor  for  the 
whole  of  England,  will  I  violate  that 
divine  command:  'What  God  hath 
joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asun- 
der/ Catherine  remains  thy  lawful 
wife  until  God's  angels  lower  upon 
thee  the  final  curtain  of  death." 

By  force  Henry  pulled  nearly  the 
whole  of  England  into  his  apostasy, 
setting  up  a  Church  of  his  own  and 
constituting  himself  the  supreme 
spiritual  head.  Clement,  however,  old 
and  venerable  though  he  was,  waver- 
ed not  for  an  instant  but  stood  like  a 
rock  of  adamant  in  defense  of  Cath- 
erine. Single  handed  and  alone, 
among  all  the  voices  of  Europe  and 
all  the  powers  of  Christendom,  the 
Vicar  of  Christ  stood  pleading  the 
cause  of  weak  and  defenseless  wo- 
manhood, cast  aside  by  the  whimsical 

lusts  and  the  cruel  passions  of  man. 
*   *  * 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  7 


Pius  VII  vs.  Napoleon 

The  slanting  rays  of  the  setting  sun 
are  gilding  with  golden  hues  the  twin 
spires  of  the  great  Cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame  in  Paris.  Down  below  in  the 
Champs  Elysees  throngs  of  people  are 
making  merry.  It  is  the  eve  of  the 
coronation  of  the  great  Napoleon.  In 
his  chamber  at  the  Tuileries,  Pius  VII, 
forced  by  the  emperor  to  Paris,  is 
kneeling  in  prayer.  A  gentle  knock 
is  heard  at  the  door.  Calling,  "Come 
in,"  he  rises.  Josephine,  weeping  bit- 
terly, enters  and  falls  at  his  feet. 
"Holy  Father,"  she  whispers,  "our 
marriage  has  never  been  blessed  by 
the  Church." 

Instantly  Pius  VII  summoned  Na- 
poleon and  bade  him  have  his  mar- 
riage ratified  according  to  the  laws  of 
God  and  of  His  Church.  Bonaparte 
demurred.  Then  that  aged  Pontiff, 
broken  by  years  of  persecution  and 
injustice,  thin,  feeble,  and  emaciated, 
looked  into  the  face  of  the  conqueror 
of  Europe.  The  eyes  of  Pius  VII 
flashed  fire  and  straightening  himself 


8      IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

up,  he  said  to  the  man  who  had  chang- 
ed the  map  of  Europe,  the  Marshall 
who  was  still  flushed  with  the  victor- 
ies of  Marengo  and  Austerlitz — that 
feeble  and  emaciated  old  man  hurled 
into  the  face  of  the  most  powerful  and 
arrogant  ruler  in  all  Europe  the  fear- 
less ultimatum:  "Either  you  marry 
Josephine  before  the  sun  sets  in  yon- 
der sky  or  by  the  tiara  that  I  wear 
and  the  sceptre  that  I  wield,  I  shall 
refuse  to  crown  you  tomorrow  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  as  the  Em- 
peror of  France." 

Before  the  last  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  faded  from  the  skies  above  the 
purple  waters  of  the  Seine,  Napoleon 
knelt  by  the  side  of  Josephine  to  re- 
ceive from  Cardinal  Fesch  the  Sacra- 
ment which  is  both  the  shield  of  wo- 
manhood and  the  protection  of  the 
Christian  home.  Once  again  the 
Church,  in  the  person  of  the  Vicar  of 
Christ  stood  out  single-handed  and 
alone  against  the  most  powerful  po- 
tentate in  all  Europe  in  defense  of 
weak  and  helpless  womanhood. 
*    *  * 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  9 


Ingeburga  Appeals  to  Rome 

The  curtain  of  the  centuries  is  rais- 
ed. It  is  an  August  day  in  1193  at 
Amiens,  France.  With  stately  cere- 
mony and  amid  the  rejoicing  of  the 
people,  Phillip  II  is  plighting  his 
deathless  troth  to  his  queenly  bride, 
the  daughter  of  Canute  VI,  King  of 
Denmark.  In  the  presence  of  William 
of  Champagne,  the  Archbishop  of 
Reims,  before  the  altar  of  the  Lord, 
Phillip  promises  to  take  Ingeburga  for 
his  lawful  wife,  to  have  and  to  hold, 
from  this  day  forward,  for  better  or 
for  worse,  for  richer  or  for  poorer,  in 
sickness  and  in  health,  until  death  do 
them  part. 

The  very  day  after  the  wedding, 
however,  his  fancy  changes.  The 
lovely  queen,  who  had  left  the  royal 
palace  in  Denmark  to  come  at  his  in- 
vitation and  live  as  his  queen  in  a 
strange  land  among  a  people  speak- 
ing an  alien  tongue,  he  wishes  to  cast 
ruthlessly  aside.  He  summons  the 
Council  of  Compiegne,  and  demands 
a  declaration  of  nullity  of  his  mar- 
riage.   The  assembly  of  complaisant 


10    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

barons  and  bishops  accedes  to  his  de- 
mand. Phillip,  trumphant,  marries 
his  new  inamorata,  Agnes  de  Meran. 
The  queen  is  imprisoned  in  the  cha- 
teau at  Etampes.  Deserted  and  alone, 
far  from  her  father's  home,  Ingebur- 
ga  finds  herself  without  a  single  pow- 
erful friend  in  all  France. 

In  this  crisis  she  turns  instinctively 
towards  Rome.  In  her  broken  French 
she  cries:  "I  appeal  from  the  verdict 
of  the  Council  of  Compiegne  to  the 
Vicar  of  Christ,  the  Protector  of  de- 
fenseless womanhood  everywhere." 
That  cry  of  Ingeburga  from  her  pris- 
on at  Etampes  was  heard  across  the 
Alps  by  the  sentinel  on  the  watch 
towers  of  the  Vatican.  Without  a 
moment's  hesitation,  Pope  Innocent 
III  threw  himself  into  the  unequal 
struggle  on  the  side  of  truth  and  jus- 
tice and  in  defense  of  the  rights  of 
womanhood.  Into  the  face  of  the  lust- 
ful monarch  the  Pontiff  flung  the 
fearless  ultimatum:  "Either  you  re- 
spect your  sworn  vow  of  deathless  fi- 
delity and  restore  Ingeburga  to  her 
rightful  place  beside  you  on  the  royal 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  11 


throne,  or  I,  as  the  Vicar  of  Christ, 
shall  cut  you  off  as  one  unworthy  of 
membership  in  the  Church  of  the  liv- 
ing God." 

France  Under  Interdict 

Phillip  demurred.  True  to  his 
word,  the  Pontiff  promptly  excom- 
municated the  king.  When  he  still 
refused,  Innocent  III  brought  into  ac- 
tion his  most  powerful  spiritual 
weapon  and  placed  all  France  under 
interdict.  Until  nine  months  later 
when  Phillip  feigned  reconciliation 
with  Ingeburga,  first  before  the  papal 
legate,  Octavian,  and  then  before  the 
Council  of  Soissons,  not  a  single  Mass 
was  permitted  to  be  celebrated  in  all 
France.  As  a  protest  against  the  in- 
justice done  to  her  and  to  redress  her 
wrong,  the  Pontiff  took  this  desperate 
step.  It  served  to  arouse  the  con- 
science of  the  nation  against  the  cruel 
injustice  of  the  king. 

This  the  Pontiff  did  in  defense  of 
the  rights  of  a  single  woman,  a  stran- 
ger in  an  alien  land,  helpless  and 
alone,  weeping  in  her  prison  at 
Etampes.   At  last,  after  fifteen  years 


12    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

of  struggle  with  the  stubborn  and 
lustful  monarch,  victory  crowned  the 
efforts  of  the  Pontiff.  Ingeburga  was 
restored  to  her  rightful  place  as 
Queen  on  the  royal  throne  of  France. 

Once  again,  the  Church,  in  the  per- 
son of  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  stands  out 
before  the  eyes  of  the  world  as  the 
solitary,  fearless  champion  of  the 
rights  of  womanhood.  Once  again  the 
Church  emerges  triumphant  in  her 
struggle  with  the  lustful  kings,  the 
most  powerful  in  all  Europe,  who 
sought  to  trample  under  foot  the 
rights,  the  dignity,  and  the  honor  of 
womanhood.  That  was  not  merely 
Catherine  of  Aragon  kneeling  at  the 
feet  of  Clement  VII,  nor  Josephine  de 
Beauharnais  at  the  feet  of  Pius  VII, 
nor  Ingeburga  at  the  feet  of  Innocent 
III.  They  are  but  the  symbols  of  wo- 
manhood everywhere.  It  was  woman- 
hood in  all  the  ages  and  in  all  the 
countries  of  Christendom  kneeling  at 
the  feet  of  Christ's  Vicar,  receiving 
protection  from  the  passions  and  the 
lewdness  of  men. 


*    *  * 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  13 

The  kindly  old  Pastor  came  back 
with  a  start  from  his  historical  re- 
miniscencing. "The  Church,  the  ene- 
my of  womanhood  ?"  he  queried  of  his 
visitor.  "Why,"  he  continued,  "all 
that  separates  womanhood  from  the 
menial  position  she  occupied  under 
paganism  as  a  chattel  ministering  to 
the  passions  of  man  is  the  influence 
of  the  Christian  Church.  The  one  in- 
stitution in  a  world  of  change  which 
has  unceasingly  championed  the 
rights  of  womanhood  is  the  Church 
founded  by  Jesus  Christ.  To  that 
Church  woman  is  indebted  for  the 
unique  dignity  and  reverence  she  en- 
joys throughout  Christendom  today. 
No  one  can  charge  the  Church  with 
indifference  to  the  rights  and  the  hap- 
piness of  womanhood  without  being 
blind  to  the  most  obvious  lessons  of 
history  for  the  last  two  thousand 
years." 

Marlborough- Vanderbilt  Case 

After  reading  the  historical  inci- 
dents just  sketched,  some  readers, 
particularly  among  our  dear  non- 
Catholic  friends,  may  feel  inclined  to 


14    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 


say:  "That  is  all  right  for  the  past. 
But  how  about  today?  While  the 
Church  theoretically  forbids  divorce 
today,  she  practically  allows  it  by  her 
system  of  annulments  and  dispensa- 
tions. Look,  for  example,  at  her  set- 
ting aside  the  marriage  of  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough  and  Miss  Consuelo 
Vanderbilt." 

The  answer  is :  The  Church  has  not 
swerved,  either  in  theory  or  in  prac- 
tice, from  her  historic  stand  in  sup- 
port of  Christ's  teaching  concerning 
the  absolute  indissolubility  of  Chris- 
tian marriage.  It  is  true  that  the 
Church  grants  dispensations.  But 
these  are  never  from  the  natural  or 
the  divine  law,  but  only  from  those  of 
her  own  making.  Unlike  the  modern 
State,  she  never  declares  a  valid  mar- 
riage to  be  null  and  void.  She  merely 
declares  after  careful  investigation 
that  a  so-called  marriage  never  ac- 
tually occurred — that  it  was  invalid 
from  the  beginning.  Much  of  the  mis- 
understanding in  the  public  mind 
concerning  the  Church's  declarations 
of  nullity  is  due  to  an  ignorance  both 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  15 


of  the  facts  in  the  case  and  of  the 
Church's  laws  regulating  marriage. 
For,  like  the  State,  the  Church  has 
not  one  but  many  laws  designed  to 
clarify  and  safeguard  the  marital 
contract. 

Now  what  are  the  actual  facts  in 
the  Marlborough- Vanderbilt  case  ? 
Briefly  these:  The  bride's  mother, 
the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  Mrs.  0.  H. 
P.  Belmont,  Mrs.  Jay,  and  Mrs.  Tif- 
fany swore  before  the  Tribunal  of  the 
Rota,  the  Church's  Supreme  Court 
for  matrimonial  cases  in  Rome,  that 
the  bride,  Consuelo  Vanderbilt,  had 
been  coerced  into  the  marriage  and 
had  never  consented  to  it  even  after- 
wards. On  the  strength  of  such 
sworn  testimony,  the  Rota  declared 
the  marriage  to  have  been  null  and 
void  from  the  beginning.  The 
Church's  law  on  the  subject  is  un- 
mistakably clear:  "A  marriage  is  in- 
valid, if  entered  into  because  of  vio- 
lence or  grave  fears,  inflicted  unjust- 
ly and  from  without,  to  escape  which 
one  is  forced  to  choose  marriage." 
(Canon  1987)  Surely  no  fair-minded 


16    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

person  can  criticize  the  Church  for 
having  rendered  a  decision  that  squar- 
ed with  both  the  law  and  the  estab- 
lished facts  in  this  particular  case. 

Marconi-O'Brien  Case 

Why  was  the  Marconi-O'Brien  mar- 
riage declared  null?  Was  it  not  be- 
cause of  the  powerful  influence  exer- 
cised by  the  parties  concerned  ?  Such 
are  the  questions  frequently  asked  by 
people  whose  knowledge  of  the  case 
rests  solely  upon  the  reading  of  a 
newspaper  item.  The  facts  in  this 
case  are  briefly  these:  The  declara- 
tion of  nullity  was  issued  because 
both  parties  made  its  dissolubility  a 
requisite  condition  of  their  consent. 
On  the  grounds  that  some  marriages 
turn  out  badly,  the  mother  of  the 
bride  refused  at  first  to  permit  her 
daughter  to  wed  if  the  marriage 
was  to  be  considered  indissoluble. 
Mr.  Marconi  made  an  explicit  agree- 
ment with  the  mother,  the  daughter, 
and  the  whole  family,  in  which  he 
stated  that  either  party  could  apply 
for  divorce,  if  at  any  time  he  or  she 
saw  fit. 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  17 

Such  a  reservation  was  in  direct 
violation  of  the  Church's  law  which 
states:  "If  either  party  or  both  by  a 
positive  act  of  the  will  exclude  the 
marriage  itself  ...  or  any  essential 
property  of  marriage,  the  contract  is 
invalid."  (Canon  1086,  No.  2)  Since 
indissolubility  is  an  essential  proper- 
ty of  marriage,  it  is  evident  that  the 
marriage  was  null  and  void  from  the 
beginning.  Such  was  the  only  de- 
cision the  Rota  could  give  in  the  light 
of  the  facts  and  the  law  in  the  case. 

No  Discrimination 

The  Church  does  not  have  one  law 
for  the  rich  and  another  for  the  poor. 
Nor  is  she  swayed  in  her  decisions  by 
any  consideration  of  wealth  or  influ- 
ence. With  an  eye  single  to  facts  in 
the  case  she  metes  out  even-handed 
justice  to  king  and  peasant  alike.  Be- 
fore her  judicial  tribunals  the  ragged 
pauper  is  the  equal  of  the  millionaire. 
When  that  influential  nobleman  ol 
France,  Count  Boni  de  Castellan© 
sought  an  annulment  of  his  marriage 
to  the  wealthy  American,  Anna  Gould, 
the  Rota,  after  three  hearings  of  the 


18    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 


case,  returned  a  final  and  irrevocable 
No. 

To  the  rich  and  powerful  who  seek 
annulments  not  warranted  by  the 
realities  of  the  case,  the  Church  re- 
plies today  in  the  same  manner  in 
which  Pius  VII  answered  Napoleon's 
request  for  the  invalidation  of  the 
marriage  which  his  brother  Jerome 
had  contracted  with  Miss  Patterson 
of  Baltimore.  "Your  majesty  will 
understand/'  wrote  the  Pope,  "that 
upon  the  information  thus  far  receiv- 
ed by  us  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  pro- 
nounce a  sentence  of  nullity.  We  can- 
not utter  a  judgment  in  opposition  to 
the  rules  of  the  Church,  and  we  could 
not,  without  laying  aside  those  rules, 
decree  the  invalidity  of  a  union 
which,  according  to  the  Word  of  God, 
no  human  power  can  sunder." 

With  our  courts  tearing  asunder 
the  sacred  ties  of  marriage,  until  one 
out  of  every  seven  homes  in  our  land 
is  disrupted,  far-seeing  statesmen  of 
every  faith  are  beginning  to  recog- 
nize in  the  Church's  unswerving  stand 
against  divorce  the  strongest  influ- 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  19 


ence  for  the  preservation  of  the  home 
and  the  stabilization  of  the  social  or- 
der. Conscious  of  the  social  trage- 
dies and  the  heart-aches  which  follow 
in  the  wake  of  broken  firesides,  non- 
Catholics  in  America  and  throughout 
the  whole  of  Christendom  in  increas- 
ing numbers  will  add  their  hearty 
endorsement  to  the  words  of  Pope 
Leo  XIII  in  his  Encyclical  Arcanum. 
"It  must  be  allowed,"  he  writes,  "that 
the  Catholic  Church  has  been  of  the 
highest  service  to  the  well-being  of 
all  peoples,  by  her  constant  defense 
of  the  sanctity  and  perpetuity  of  mar- 
riage. She  deserves  no  small  thanks 
for  openly  protesting  against  the  civil 
laws  which  offended  so  grievously  in 
this  matter  a  century  ago  .  .  .  and 
for  rejecting  even  in  the  early  ages 
the  Imperial  laws  in  favor  of  divorce 
and  putting  away.  And  when  the  Ro- 
man Pontiffs  withstood  the  most  po- 
tent princes  who  sought  with  threats 
to  obtain  the  Church's  approval  of 
their  divorces,  they  fought  not  only 
for  the  safety  of  religion  but  for  that 
of  civilization." 


20    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 


Few  Annulments 

Hostile  critics  often  picture  the  Ro- 
man Rota  as  granting  annulments 
with  so  lavish  a  hand  as  to  destroy  at 
least  in  practice  the  permanence  of 
the  marital  bond.  They  do  not  know 
with  what  painstaking  care  that  Tri- 
bunal investigates  every  case,  nor  the 
infrequency  with  which  an  annulment 
is  granted.  Thus,  during  a  recent 
five-year  period,  this  court  which 
hears  cases  for  the  whole  world, 
granted  only  98  decrees  of  nullity. 
Compare  this  with  the  record  in  our 
own  country  where  approximately 
150,000  divorces  are  granted  in  a  sin- 
gle year ! 

Can  any  fair-minded  person  in  the 
light  of  the  actual  evidence  honestly 
say  that  the  Church's  practice  in  re- 
gard to  the  safeguarding  of  the  mar- 
riage bond  does  not  square  with  her 
teaching?  Where  is  the  court,  or  in- 
stitution, or  tribunal  which  guards 
with  such  ceaseless  vigilance  the  uni- 
ty and  the  permanence  of  the  mar- 
riage contract?  The  Church  not  only 
believes  in  this  teaching  of  Christ  as 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  21 


an  abstract  ideal,  but,  more  than  that, 
she  practises  it.  She  weaves  the 
golden  thread  of  that  glorious  ideal 
into  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  daily 
life  of  her  children  spread  through- 
out the  world. 

In  defending  the  sacredness  and  the 
enduring  character  of  Christian  mar- 
riage, the  Church  is  championing  the 
sanctity  of  the  home  and  particularly 
the  rights  and  the  happiness  of  wo- 
man. For  the  mother  in  the  great 
majority  of  instances  suffers  the  most 
from  the  disruption  of  the  home.  Age- 
ing more  rapidly  than  man,  she  usual- 
ly finds  it  more  difficult  to  contract 
a  new  alliance.  Particularly  is  this 
true  when  she  has  offspring.  With 
fewer  opportunities  for  employment 
with  which  to  support  herself  and  her 
children,  she  is  generally  the  greatest 
victim  of  the  tragedy  of  a  broken 
home. 

A  Contrast 

If  one  wishes  to  guage  the  influence 
of  the  Church's  teaching  concerning 
the  rights  of  womanhood,  he  should 


22    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

visit  some  of  the  Mohammedan,  Brah- 
min, or  Buddhist  countries  where 
Christianity  has  scarcely  penetrated. 
The  contrast  between  the  status  of 
woman  in  those  lands  and  in  our 
Christian  civilization,  he  would  find 
most  striking.  In  sailing  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1925  up  the  Straits  of  the 
Dardanelles  and  across  the  sea  of 
Marmora,  the  writer  noticed  down  in 
the  hold  of  the  vessel  a  number  of 
Turkish  families  who  were  returning 
from  Greece  to  Constantinople.  They 
lived  amid  a  squalor  rarely  found  in 
our  Christian  countries. 

In  one  corner  there  was  a  little 
group  of  six  women  and  one  man  eat- 
ing out  of  a  single  large  bowl.  The 
faces  of  the  women  were  veiled  down 
to  their  mouths.  Upon  inquiry  as  to 
the  relationship  existing  among  the 
members  of  such  an  unusual  combin- 
ation, the  writer  was  informed  that 
the  women  were  the  six  wives  of  the 
Turk.  Squatted  on  the  floor,  minis- 
tering to  their  master  like  slaves, 
they  presented  a  revealing  picture  of 
the  condition  of  woman  under  pagan- 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  23 


ism — a  condition  which  exists  to  a 
large  extent  still  in  non-Christian 
lands.  Let  the  advocates  of  the  so- 
called  "newer  freedom"  for  woman 
compare  her  degraded  status  in  such 
countries  where  she  is  still  a  serf  do- 
ing the  drudgery  of  her  lord  and  a 
plaything  ministering  to  his  lust, 
with  the  position  of  dignity  and  rev- 
erence which  she  enjoys  in  Christian 
countries. 

Let  the  women  who  chafe  under 
the  law  of  Christ  concerning  the  per- 
manent unity  of  marriage  visit  the 
excavated  cities  of  Herculaneum  and 
Pompeii.  In  those  old  Roman  homes 
dating  from  the  pagan  era,  they  will 
see  the  quarters  set  aside  for  the 
heterai,  the  minor  wives,  upon  whom 
the  head  of  the  household  frequently 
lavished  the  greatest  luxury.  Let 
them  then  decide  if  they  would  de- 
stroy the  solitary  lever  which  has  lift- 
ed womanhood  from  the  foul  morass 
of  pagan  lechery  to  the  position  of 
honor  and  reverence  which  she  enjoys 
today.  That  lever  is  the  teaching  of 
Christ — a  teaching  which  His  Church 


24    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

has  held  for  nineteen  centuries  as  a 
beacon  light  to  guide  the  groping  feet 
of  mankind  from  the  darkness  of  pa- 
ganism to  the  refinement  of  Chris- 
tian life  and  culture. 

Mary's  Influence 

Supplementing  the  teaching  of 
Christ  in  elevating  woman  to  her  new 
dignity,  has  been  the  influence  of  that 
model  of  womanly  virtue  and  beauty, 
the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  the  Mother 
of  our  Saviour.  Mankind  is  influenc- 
ed more  by  ideals  than  by  ideas.  Hu- 
man hearts  and  minds  are  impressed 
more  profoundly  by  concrete  living 
exemplification  of  virtue  than  by  its 
enunciation  in  abstract  terms.  Since 
the  time  of  Christ,  Mary  has  been  the 
model  of  virtue  for  the  maiden,  wife, 
and  mother.  Alone  among  all  our 
race,  she  unites  in  herself  the  twin 
glories  of  virginity  and  motherhood. 
Painters  and  sculptors,  poets  and  his- 
torians, have  vied  with  one  another 
in  seeking  to  portray  the  charm  of 
her  virginal  innocence  and  maternal 
love. 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ESEMY?  25 

From  the  time  when  as  a  helpless 
Babe,  cradled  in  her  arms,  breathing 
the  perfume  of  His  breath  into  the 
roses  of  her  cheeks,  until  the  hour 
when  He  hung  limp  upon  Calvary's 
cross,  Jesus  paid  to  His  mother  the 
tribute  of  His  honor,  reverence,  and 
love.  The  Master's  example  has 
been  contagious  and  mankind  has 
sought  humbly  to  follow  in  His  steps. 
Reverenced  as  the  ideal  among  God's 
children,  "our  tainted  nature's  soli- 
tary boast,"  as  the  non-Catholic  poet, 
Wordsworth,  styled  her,  Mary  has 
elevated  all  womanhood  to  a  new  po- 
sition of  honor  and  dignity  in  the  eyes 
of  men. 

Beauty  of  Holiness 

The  superiority  of  the  spiritual 
charm  and  beauty  of  Mary's  charac- 
ter over  any  of  the  ideals  influencing 
the  art  and  thinking  of  ancient  Greece, 
is  eloquently  portrayed  by  Frederick 
A.  Stowe,  who  bears  the  testimony  of 
scholars  outside  the  fold.  "No 
theme,"  he  writes,  "has  stirred  to 
greater  depths  the  passion  of  men 
than  a  mother's  love,  yet  centuries 


26    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

passed  before  the  artists  could  even 
suggest  the  heights  and  depths  of  her 
devotion.  The  Greek  ideal  was  Juno 
or  Venus  or  Phyrne.  Out  of  white 
marble,  the  Greek  sculptor  hewed 
images  of  wondrous  beauty  and  fault- 
less form.  His  ideal  was  transmitted 
like  frozen  music.  It  appealed  to  the 
sensuous  and  evoked  the  rapturous 
adulation  of  the  heroic,  but  the  Greek 
face  was  soulless.  Aenone,  deserted 
on  Ida's  mountain,  weeping  for  her 
Paris,  was  all  Greek  poesy  could  give. 
It  was  not  until  Raphael  painted  his 
Madonna  that  the  world  was  given  its 
beautiful  ideal  of  womanhood.  Venus 
had  a  lover,  but  Mary  brooded  over 
her  child.  Venus  reveled  in  a  dying 
world ;  Mary  had  a  soul,  and  upon  her 
brow  settled  the  holiness  of  beauty 
and  the  beauty  of  holiness.  No  dryad 
on  the  mountain,  no  nereid  in  the 
laughing  sea  or  Diana  at  the  chase 
with  quiver  and  bow  could  affect  the 
queenly  grace  and  divine  wardenship 
which  was  the  charm  of  Mary.  Her 
face  was  illuminated  by  an  inner 
light  unknown  to  Venus  or  Juno,  and 


IS  THE  CHUBCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  27 

Mary  survives  to  the  latest  genera- 
tion as  the  gentlest  name  in  history." 

In  tracing  the  transformation  in 
the  moral  status  of  woman  wrought 
by  Christianity,  Cardinal  Gibbons 
likewise  stresses  the  influences  of  the 
ideal  of  the  Virgin  mother.  "The  in- 
fluence of  Mary  in  the  moral  eleva- 
tion of  woman,"  he  points  out,  "can 
hardly  be  overestimated.  She  is  the 
perfect  combination  of  all  that  is 
great  and  good  and  noble  in  pagan 
womanhood,  with  no  alloy  of  degra- 
dation." 

A  Rock  of  Gibraltar 

The  enumeration  of  the  thousand 
subtle  ways  in  which  the  ideal  of  the 
chaste  beauty  of  Mary's  character 
became  indelibly  stamped  upon  the 
intellect  and  heart  and  imagination 
of  Christendom  would  fill  many  a  vol- 
ume. Suffice  it  to  say  that  second 
only  to  the  direct  teachings  of  Christ 
on  the  sanctity  and  indissolubility  of 
marriage,  has  been  the  influence  of 
the  ideal  of  the  chaste  Mother  of 
God  in  the  elevation  and  spiritual 


28    IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY? 

enfranchisement  of  womanhood 
throughout  all  Christendom. 

Are  we  not  compelled,  therefore,  to 
say  that  those  who  picture  the  Church 
as  closing  the  door  to  the  "newer 
freedom"  for  women  and  as  placing 
a  barrier  to  her  happiness  by  insisting 
upon  Christ's  teaching  concerning  the 
sacredness  of  the  family  fireside  and 
the  permanence  of  the  Christian  home 
are  not  only  short-sighted  but  are 
blind  to  the  most  obvious  lessons  of 
history?  Does  not  the  experience  of 
humanity  the  world  over  demonstrate 
that  lasting  happiness  can  never  be 
secured  by  the  violation  of  God's  law? 

True,  siren  voices  still  whisper  of 
forbidden  fruit.  Will-o-the-wisps 
still  beckon  to  new  and  untried  paths. 
Ignes  fatui  still  shed  their  deceptive 
gleams  to  lure  the  unwary  traveler  to 
the  pitfalls  and  quicksands  of  the 
morass.  But  reflection  and  sober 
second  thought  will  prompt  woman 
not  to  ignore  the  voices  of  all  human 
experience  warning  her  that  such 
paths  lead  but  to  misery  and  disaster. 
In  the  Catholic  Church  she  will  recog- 


IS  THE  CHURCH  WOMAN'S  ENEMY?  29 


nize  her  best  and  staunchest  friend 
throughout  the  centuries.  In  cling- 
ing to  that  Church  she  will  find  a  bul- 
wark of  protection  from  the  lewdness 
and  the  lust  of  man,  and  a  mighty 
Rock  of  Gibraltar  against  which  the 
waves  of  human  passion  will  beat — 
but  beat  forever  in  vain. 

Discussion  Aids 

1.  Is  the  Church  woman's  enemy? 
Why? 

2.  Why  did  Henry  VIII  leave  the 
Catholic  Church? 

3.  Describe  Queen  Ingeburga's  ap- 
peal to  Rome. 

4.  What  are  the  facts  in  the  Marl- 
borough-Vanderbilt  case?  In  the 
Marconi-O'Brien  case? 

5.  Is  there  any  discrimination  be- 
tween the  rich  and  the  poor  in 
the  matter  of  marriage  in  the 
Catholic  Church? 

6.  Contrast  the  position  of  woman- 
hood under  paganism  and  under 
Christianity. 

7.  What  profound  influence  did  the 
Blessed  Virgin  exercise  upon  the 
elevation  of  womanhood? 


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35  The  Mysteries  of  the  Holy  Rosary. 

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59  Mariology  Marches  On. 

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61  The  One  and  Only  Church. 

62  Words  of  Encouragement. 


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85  Why  Do  We  Pray  for  The  Dead? 

86  Learn  of  Me. 

87  Are  Mercy-Killings  Justifiable? 

88  The  Bible. 

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